When my dining companion and I chose our seats at Mima's Meatballs and More in Danbury one recent Sunday afternoon, it was as if we'd stepped onto the set of a TV show -- or more accurately, a commercial.

"How is everything?" the woman at the counter asked a couple seated nearby.

This restaurant is geared toward fast, friendly service in a casual atmosphere, and offers takeout. Customers place their order at the counter and choose a table if they are dining in, then their meals will be brought to them.

The decor is a modern take on a cozy little Italian place -- instead of red-checkered tablecloths, the only checkering is the black-and-white-checkered paper under the food on each plate.

And yes, it's all about the meatballs, with choices including the type and size of meatball and which sauce to have with them. Special meatballs offered include turkey, vegetarian and meatloaf. There's mini-meatballs, too. Sauces include marinara, arrabiata, sweet and sour, teriyaki, sweet chili and Buffalo.

On the menu, diners have such choices as Italian wedding soup and Mima's Salad -- arugula, plum tomatoes, cannellini beans, red onion and herbs, to which chicken skewers or meatballs can be added. Following that are the meals featuring meatballs -- from sliders to pasta.

For a first-time visitor, a nice choice would be one of the meatball meals, each of which includes a fritte and drink, along with a number of mini-meatballs. But, having sampled those on a previous visit, my companion and I decided to branch out. He ordered Mima's Traditional Meatball Wedge and included the optional mozzarella on it. The wedge is filled with three traditional meatballs and marinara sauce.

"The meatballs were a good consistency; the marinara was tasty and the bread was nice," he said after eating. "Nice" bread is high praise from this fellow.

I decided to have one of Mima's Specials -- two traditional meatballs over a choice of pasta. I picked the rigatoni and the arrabiata sauce. Sometimes you just want that little kick, you know?

It was delicious, but for reasons of self-preservation, I avoided eating the actual jalapeno slices that were in the sauce. Sometimes too much of a good thing really is too much, and the sauce was just right for me -- enough flavor came from the jalapenos that I didn't need the full-pepper effect.

The dessert menu is pretty straightforward. You can have a mini fritte, with a choice of optional sauces and/or powdered sugar. We decided to split one with nutella and powdered sugar.